


the forest path

by MultipleLevels



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Gross Writing, Mutilation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 09:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9649613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultipleLevels/pseuds/MultipleLevels
Summary: and other quality songs from early on





	

**Author's Note:**

> old stuffs I thought I might post, since my account's become half-dead. Old = fall 2016 was the original draft's date  
> Be warned: this isn't one of my "better" AUs, just something i spat out after enough thought and creative liberties.

The forest was said to house a broken princess, hiding a number of different things, from what the stories say. Great materias, large wealth, or exceptional beauty. Traveler stories spoke of her with many different banes, everything from having three eyes or no hands to horrible diseases or an irreversible touch me frog curse.

 

Everyone saw the weakness in her leg first. 

The gnarled skin and spiralling scars up and down it. They saw how she walked with a slight limp with the scrawny limb.

They didn’t see the other leg, the muscles lean but strong and the skin, clean shaven and unblemished. 

They didn’t see her quick reflexes or superior senses. 

They didn’t see the beauty in her appearance, as distorted as it was.

They only saw her blight.

  
  


Tifa threw the first punch, which was quickly dodged by a fast flip backwards. She made a silent noise of anger, disgruntled her mark against such a tiny and supposedly weak opponent. Surprisingly, her foe stuck the landing, letting her good leg’s calf collapse into the thigh at the last second so she hit the ground with both feet. An odd but useful tactic.

Without skipping a beat, she threw her gigantic shuriken once poised on her back, just passing her target by millimeters. It rounded back, which Tifa didn’t expect. It impaled her forearm with a sickening sound. Blood spritzed out of the wound, running down her arm and turning an acidic green color near moments later. Her skin felt like it was on fire, the limb spasming and contorting in ways that seemed almost impossible. Tifa made a strangled noise and fell to her knees, unable to stand with the pain. She blacked out.

 

Tifa was somewhere new, somewhere she didn’t know. The bed she was in was hard and unfamiliar, so was the room. In the middle of it all was a person, sitting over a fire that warmed the small room. A teapot and kettle sat over it. They stirred the latter, ladling a helping of opaque yellow soup into a lacquered bowl, from Tifa’s obstructed view.

“Finally decided to join the living?” They set the bowl down, picking up another empty one and filling it with soup. They turn around, and past events rush back to her. She sat up suddenly, regretting it when pain shot through her arm. It was wrapped in layer after layer of bandages.

“You were the one who attacked me.” Tifa’s voice was accusatory as she looked at the other.

“Correction: You were the one who attacked me. I was just protecting myself,” she places the bowl in front of her, complete with a pair of chopsticks and empty cup. She turned around and took the teapot off the fire, pouring a light green tea into both cups. Curls of steam rose from the newly poured liquid.

“What is this?” Tifa hesitantly pointed at the food with a bandaged arm.

“Miso. I didn’t have time to prepare much else, so it’s just soup.” She picked up the bowl and chopsticks in front of her, picking a white cube out of the broth mixture and eating it.

She fumbled with the chopsticks in her good hand, unable to correctly use them. The other amusedly watched, taking a long sip from the lacquered bowl.

“Need some help?” Her attacker couldn’t help but snicker.

“Don’t you have anything easier to use, like a  _ fork _ ?”

She shakes her head with a sly grin, picking up her cup and drinking the still steamy tea. “Blech, I can still taste the poison...” She muttered under her breath.

Tifa sighed, taking the bowl as best she could up to her lips and sipping the broth. It tastes strange to her, but is oddly delectable as well. She took a few more gulps for good measure, before setting the bowl back down.

“Why’d you come here?” The other asked through mouthfuls of unfamiliar ingredients.

“I heard about a traveler’s legend, about a broken princess… It seemed kind of sad, the people who recounted it for me said she was banished from her kingdom, so I thought she might be lonely.” She felt kind of stupid saying her motives, like she’s a child with a crazy whim. Tifa shook her head and sighed again, seeing no instant reaction from the other.

“Interesting. I’m charmed to hear someone would care about little old me.” She watched the look of surprise on Tifa’s face, grinning from ear to ear like a cheshire cat.

 

“Why attack me, then?” Tifa cocked her head to the side, over her initial shock.

“If you’ve heard the stories, you know plenty of people come here looking for both the “treasures” I have, and me in general,” The other grumbled, taking a half angry drink of her tea, “I’ve had to use my skills to protect myself.”

“That makes sense… but what did you coat your weapon in?”

“Poison. If not sucked out of the body it can fully paralyze it. It will deform the limb it enters through.” She points at Tifa’s arm, “You can take that off now. The wound’s probably scabbed over by now.”

She nodded, taking off the wrappings around the limb, and outwardly gasped. The skin of her forearm was entirely a purple color and twisted inhumanly. It was a stark contrast from the large scar turned bright red. Tifa glanced at her, seeing that there was no cringed expression on her face, pure neutral albeit a small smile.

The state of it was an exact replica of her leg: scrawny, off colored, and unusable-looking. But, she could still use her hand and fingers like nothing had happened, the whole limb moved just fine despite its odd appearance.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” She chuckled, standing up with a grunt. Tifa looked back at her, noticing that she wore no shoes, just long socks indoors. She thought it was strange, considering most of the room’s flooring looked to be wooden. She wasn’t wearing her boots, by the looks of it they were placed by the door, next to a couple other pairs. Perhaps it was another strange custom?

She walked to the door and put on a pair of wood sandals, with a large tooth poking out of the bottom. She balanced on the tiny plateau-like shoes, waiting for Tifa. Obliging, she took no time to slip on her mud encrusted boots.

Outside was a small pond, amongst tall trees that blocked out most sunrays. In the pond were weirdly-colored fish, sparkly and not just one color. They seemed to glow as they swam.

“Like ‘em?” She asked, taking curiously large steps to get to the other.

“They’re beautiful.” The sight was almost breathtaking, if not for what caught her eye in the rocks below, “You store materia in a fish pond?”

She laughed heartily, “Guess I’ve been found out, huh?”

She couldn’t help but giggle a little herself, since it was such a crazy idea, “No one would ever think to dig around in it to find them.”

“I’ve had my house ransacked while I was away, not a fun thing to come back to after a hot day of training. So I decided to keep them here,” She pointed to the fish, “The koi weren’t here when I first placed the materia in the pond.”

“Did the materia turn into the k-oi?” Tifa slightly butchered the new word, unused to it.

“Precisely.”

“The wonders don’t stop, do they?” She smiled, crouching down a dipping a finger into the cool waters. The ripples caused the fish to swim away, although they trepidatiously approached the foreign digit after a few seconds.

“I don’t think I ever got your name.”

“It’s Tifa. Tifa Lockhart. And you?”  
“Yuffie Kisaragi.”  
“Well,” Tifa stood back up, facing her. Yuffie was only a few inches shorter than her, but that might’ve been the tall sandals she was wearing, “I hope this is the start of a good friendship.” She stuck out her hand, and was confused when Yuffie bows deeply. 

She rose moments later, putting her hand out as well, giving Tifa a questioning look. She took the other’s hand and shook it lightly, seeming pleased with the transaction, if it was a bit messy with customs.

“We have a lot to learn, don’t we?”  
“Yep.”


End file.
